TURKMEN GOVERNMENT RELUCTANT TO OPENLY DISCUSS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000677 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SENV EIND ENRG TRGY TX RU AORC SUBJECT: TURKMEN GOVERNMENT RELUCTANT TO OPENLY DISCUSS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: While the Government of Turkmenistan has recently authorized environmental cleanup projects, it appears to be motivated more by preparations for the Avaza Tourism Zone than by a desire to improve the living conditions of the Turkmen people. Despite having signed the European Union's Aarhus Convention, the government is reluctant to speak openly about environmental problems. In addition, citizens lack the organization and resources to focus on environmental issues. The opening of an EU- Tacis-sponsored Information and Resource Center is the first step in Turkmenistan's implementation of the Convention, but the Center has not received any requests from private individuals since its establishment. END SUMMARY. RUSSIAN COMPANY TO DISPOSE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE ¶3. (SBU) President Berdimuhamedov issued a decree on February 7 for a project authorizing state concern Turkmenhimiya to sign a USD 12.4 million contract with the Russian company Ecomet to dispose of radioactive waste from two chemical plants in western Turkmenistan, a carbon black production plant in Hazar and an iodine production plant in Balkanabat. According to the decree, the Ministry of Healthcare and Medical Industry and the Ministry of Defense will coordinate the removal and transport of the waste. The presidential decree did not specify where the radioactive waste will be disposed of. Government opposition website "Turkmenskaya Iskra" (www.tm-iskra.org) reported that the radioactive waste will be disposed of in the Karakum Desert, and that a cement production plant will be built at the site to provide cement for the construction of a storage facility. NEW HOUSEHOLD WASTE DISPOSAL PLANT COMMISSIONED ¶4. (U) The city of Ashgabat commissioned a household waste disposal plant in the outskirts of Ashgabat in February. According to the official press report, the process that prepares waste for further recycling includes separation, pressing and briquetting. One area of the plant will sterilize and disintegrate medical waste before disposal. It is planned that the plant will recycle specially-treated food waste by using it in organic fertilizers in the future. TOXIC WASTE AND ACCESS TO ENVIROMENTAL INFORMATION ¶5. (SBU) According to the Ministry of Nature Protection's report of 1990 (available on the website of GRID-Arendal, a collaborating center of the United Nations Environmental Programme),1,350 tons of toxic waste -- including discarded agricultural chemicals -- were dumped in the territories of Mary, Dashoguz and Lebap provinces. Since the time that this Soviet-era report was written, Turkmenistan ratified the Aarhus Convention on April 30, 1999, which requires signatories to provide the public with access to environmental information and to allow public input to governmental decision-making processes on matters concerning the environment. However, the Turkmen Government has not made public any information about its intentions to address the toxic waste problem mentioned in the 1990 report. INFORMATION AND RESOURCE CENTER ON AARHUS CONVENTION ASHGABAT 00000677 002 OF 003 ¶6. (SBU) EU-Tacis provided a grant to the local ecology NGO "Tebigy Kuwwat" to establish an Information and Resource Center under the regional project "Strengthening Public Participation and Civil Society Support to Implementation of the Aarhus Convention" in December 2008. During a meeting at the Center, National Coordinator for the Aarhus Convention Viktoriya Akopova told locally engaged Politcal-Economic Assistant that the center is working on national educational projects to train provincial and central government officials about their rights and responsibilities under the Convention. The projects involve training seminars, public events and printed materials. The Center can also provide environmental information to a registered public organization upon request. Akopova said the Aarhus Convention, as well as national legislation, including the Constitution of Turkmenistan, the National Environmental Action Plan and the Law of Turkmenistan on Environmental Impact Assessment, guarantees anyone, including private citizens, access to information about the state of Turkmenistan's environment. She added that in practice, government officials prefer to work with registered environmental NGOs. Akopova said that the Center has not received any requests from private individuals since its establishment. ¶7. (SBU) The Center views collaboration with public organizations working on environmental issues as a means to reach the public at large, and to educate on rights under the Convention. (NOTE: The Center's list of public organizations includes only those that are registered with the government, such as the Turkmen Society of Nature Protection, Ashgabat Gardeners' Society, Falconers' Club, Agama Alpinist Club, Turkmen Society of Hunters and Fishermen, and Voluntary Firemen's Society. The list does not include unregistered environmental NGOs. END NOTE.) In addition, the Center works closely with government organizations to educate officials about their responsibilities under the Convention. Since its opening in December 1998, the Center has arranged training seminars on the implementation of the Convention for Turkmenistan's law enforcement bodies, prosecutors and independent lawyers. ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: The carbon black produced at the Hazar Chemical Plant is an export item that generates hard-currency revenues for Turkmenistan, and therefore, it is unlikely that the government will close the plant, regardless of its negative impact on the environment. The President's decision to move radioactive waste from the Caspian Sea area into the desert can be explained by his personal attention to the development of the Avaza Tourism Zone and the priority that it is an environmentally safe site. ¶9. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: The National Coordinator for the Aarhus Convention said that in order to effectively implement provisions of the Convention, Turkmenistan needs a more developed civil society. The registration of independent environmental NGOs would be a step in the right direction. Of course, such environmental watchdogs would be thorn in the government's side, highlighting problems that the government would rather ignore or deal with quietly. Without watchdog groups, there will be major barriers to further implementation of the Convention, because the government has no motivation to continue the process and, left to its own devices, would prefer to sweep these ASHGABAT 00000677 003 OF 003 problems under the rug. END COMMENT. MILES